Pointless Protest

As I've said more than once in the past, there are things that I just don't understand, such as quantum mechanics, Finnegan's Wake, and the public's general fascination with bears. It looks like it's time to add a new item to this list, because for the life of me, I can't understand the level of protest going on about the Olympics.

Full disclosure here — I enjoy the Olympics. I really do. I particularly enjoy the winter Olympics, and not just because as a Canadian, I was genetically engineered to love winter sports. No, I like the the winter games because they don't have the same density of lame events (I'm looking at you, rhythmic gymnastics and race walking), and since there aren't thirty different things happening at the same time, you can pay closer attention.

Now, I can understand that some people don't like the Olympics. Some people don't like ice cream, or ponies, or Magnum P.I. There's just no accounting for some tastes. Some people feel that the Olympics are a big waste of money. And they do have a bit of a point, as staging an Olympiad is a rather expensive affair. Just ask Montreal. And of course there's a lot of construction required, so that always upsets someone, whether for environmental reasons, or community reasons, or something else entirely. And when the organizing committee tends to be a bit heavy handed in running things, that doesn't make a lot of friends.

Perhaps the motive for protest is not completely unreasonable. But it's pretty pointless. While you might not have wanted your city or country to host the games in the first places, once the IOC has made up its mind, there's no derailing it. It takes seven years to prepare a city to host the Games, so it's not like they are going to relocate. And unless you can arrange a world war or, theoretically, a massive natural disaster, the Games are not going to be cancelled.

So while you can feel free to express your displeasure, there really isn't much point in staging demonstrations, not at this point. Maybe the world will see that a few people aren't happy about hosting the Olympics, there's nothing about to change. For those people who are vandalizing businesses associated with the Games, that's not a form of protest, that's criminal behaviour.

And here's the kicker — for most people, the Olympics are a source of national pride, exciting competition, and general awesomeness. The idea of protesting against them is like protesting free pizza or extra vacation. But if you'd rather wave a sign in the street than cheer in the stands (or, like most of us, watch from the couch in the livingroom), that's your bad choice to make. You have my pity, which will have to do. You certainly aren't getting my attention or respect.